Anna Alice Chapin (December 16, 1880 – February 26, 1920) was an American author and playwright. She wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales and books on music, but is perhaps best remembered for her 1904 collaboration with Glen MacDonough on the child's book adaptation of the Babes in Toyland operetta.[2][3]
Anna Alice Chapin | |
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Born | (1880-12-16)December 16, 1880 New York City |
Died | February 26, 1920(1920-02-26) (aged 39) New York City |
Occupation | Author and Playwright |
Spouse(s) | Robert Peyton Carter |
Anna Alice Chapin was born in New York City, the daughter of Dr. Frederick Windle Chapin and the former Anna J. Hoppin.[4] Her father, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, attended Trinity College, Hartford and received his medical degree from New York University.[5] Her mother was most likely a close relative of the architect Howard Hoppin (1854–1940), who designed several buildings in the Pomfret Street Historic District, including the Chapin home.[6] Chapin received a private education and studied music under Harry Rowe Shelley.
Chapin published her first book, The Story of the Rhinegold, when she was just 17 years old. Her other works would include: Wonder Tales from Wagner (1898); Wotan, Siegfried, and Brunhilde (1898); Masters of Music (1901); The True Story of Humpty Dumpty: How He Was Rescued by Three Mortal Children in Make Believe Land, Illustrated & Decorated by Ethel Franklin Betts (1905); Discords (1905); The Heart of Music (1906); Königskinder (1911); The Nowadays Fairy Book (1911); The Street-Car Mystery (1911); The Spirit of the Sea (1912); The Topsy Turvy Fairy (1913); The Eagle's Mate (1914); The Every Day Fairy Book (1915); Mountain Madness (1917); and Jane (1920).[7]
Chapin also wrote many short stories for magazines and newspaper syndication.[citation needed]
Chapin wrote a play, produced in New York City in 1910, entitled The Deserters,[8][9][10] written with her husband, Robert Peyton Carter, a stage actor who often worked with Maude Adams.[11][12][13][14][15] In 1919 The Deserters was released as the film Sacred Silence, with William Russell and Agnes Ayres.[16]
Several of Chapin's stories were adapted for film between 1914 and 1961. The Eagle's Mate was produced in 1914 with Mary Pickford and James Kirkwood, Sr. in the starring roles. In 1920 Mountain Madness came out with a cast led by Mignon Anderson, Harold Miller (1894-1972) and Ora Carew. The Girl of Gold written with Cleveland Moffett first appeared in the magazine Snappy Stories as a serial running from December, 1919 to March, 1920 and was produced as a film with Florence Vidor, Malcolm McGregor and Alan Roscoe in 1925. The libretto Babes in Toyland was first seen on film in 1934 as a vehicle for Laurel and Hardy and again in 1961 with Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello.[17][18]
Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
Illustrator : Allen Gilbert Cram[20]
Chapin married Robert Peyton Carter, a stage actor who often worked with Maude Adams, in 1906.
Chapin, aged 39, died after a short illness at her residence on West Thirteenth Street, New York City.[21] She was preceded in death, on June 8, 1918, in Monrovia, California, by her husband, Robert Peyton Carter,[22][23][24][25][26][27] who had appeared on stage as recently as March 1918 supporting Maude Adams in A Kiss for Cinderella.[11][28] and often together in Peter Pan[29][30][31][32]
Ethel Franklin Betts, Illustrator (New-York tribune. 1866-1924, National Endowment for the Humanities)
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)... the Christmas-themed children’s book, Babes in Toyland. The book, based on the operetta of the same name, was written by lyricist Glen MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin.
The Deserters,
The Deserters, by Robert Peyton Carter and Anna Alice Chapin - Hudson (Reel 4 Frame 954 Volume 29, 1911 )
THE DESERTERS 9/20/10 (63 perfs.) by Robert Peyton Carter and Anna Alice Chapin; with Frederick Truesdell and James J. Ryan.
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Peter Pan (By J.M. Barrie - Original Adaptation) : or "the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" by J.M. Barrie. Various productions (1905 - 90) starring Maude Adams, Robert Peyton Carter, Marion Abbott, Ernest Lawford, Grace Henderson, Lula Peck, R.P. Carter, Byron Silvers, Pauline Chase, Marilyn Miller (Portrayed by Judy Garland in the 1945 biopic, "Till the Clouds Roll By" and by June Haver in the 1949 biopic, "Look for the Silver Lining"), J. Edward Bromberg, Josephine Hutchinson, Eva Le Gallienne, Howard da Silva, Charles Walters, Richard Waring, Nina Boucicault, Arthur Lupino, Sydney Harcourt, Violet Kemble Cooper, Leslie Banks, Jane Wren, Unity More, Dot Temple, Hilda Blake, Mark Buffery, Richard Huw, Simon Slater, Ian Bolt, Susan Hampshire, Michael Denison, etc. Originally produced (1905) by Charles Frohman.
A most interesting and unique performance of Launcelot Gobbo was given some years ago by that sterling character actor, Mr. Robert Peyton Carter, so long associated with Miss Maude Adams. I was the Shylock of the performance to which I refer.
As Anna Alice Chapin wrote in her book Greenwich Village (1920):
Among the visitors of yesteryear: John Muir, Mark Twain, and Robert fPeyton Carter, an entertainment figure who handwrote in ink a lengthy, nostalgic poem about the Miramar.
The play starred MAUDE ADAMS (who originated the role of "Peter Pan") and featured ROBERT PEYTON CARTER as "Captain Hook" and "Mr. Darling". Others in the cast included MARION ABBOTT, DOROTHY DUNN, EDWIN WILSON, ANN PITTWOOD, BYRON SILVERS, JANE WREN, LOLA CLIFTON, DOROTHY CHESMAN, GEORGE DRISCOLL, MARGARET GORDON, DOROTHY TUREAK, ANNA READER, FRED TYLER, WALLACE JACKSON, ALLEN FAWCETT, JAMES L. CARHART, GUSTAVE STROWIG, STEPHEN WITTMAN, AUGUST KRAEMER, STAFFORD WINDSOR, DILLON DEASY, MADGE TREADWELL and HELEN McDONALD ..... CREDITS: Book by J. M. BARRIE; Sets designed by J. M. HEWLETT, A. T. HEWLWTT and CHARLES BASING; Produced by CHARLES FROHMAN
Miss Adams plays the cock and delivers the prologue George Henry Trader is cast as the dog. Others in the cast include William Lewers, Robert Peyton Carter, Ernest Rowan, A Lionel Hogarth, E. W. Morrison, Josephine Victor, Marlon Abbot. Margaret Gordon. Lucy Prendergast, Ada Loshell and Allen Fawcett.
Percy Hammond, dramatic critic of the Chicago Tribune, has not heretofore Been a very ardent admirer of Maude Adams' art, but the actress apipeaxs to have WOn him. completely by her performance in "The Legend of Leonora," which will be the piece de resistance oh tonight's double bill at the Grand. Of a rccent performance Mr. Hammond wrote: "Nothing more improbable was ever Written by a dramatist nothing more probable was ever acted by an actress. That, to me, was an important item in the enjoyment Of 'The Legend of Leonora.' Everything1 Was so possibly impossible. Miss Adartis' company had a great share In this1—Mr. Arthur Elliott as the. magistrate being particularly fine. So, indeed, was Mr. Charles Hammond in A conventional environment, and Mr. Robert Peyton Carter as an amusing Interloper excusing his intrusions by the skill of his playing.
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